Overscheduled....Reality or Illusion?

Yesterday was a full day, you know those days, where you get up in the morning and have things planned nonstop until nightfall. In preparing for the day, I started to feel a bit of anxiety of being so scheduled. To many, my day pales in comparison, but enjoying the flexibility that my life provides, it was a stark contrast to my typical day. My day looked a bit like this:

• 7:00 meeting
• 8:00 meeting
• 9-11 commitment
• 11:30 pick up kids
• Noon lunch
• 1-2:15 daughters softball practice
• 5:45 haircuts
• 7:00 other daughters CC training

In addition to that schedule, is travel time, roughly 105 miles.

As I was reviewing the events of the coming day with my girls, what was happening, picking up, dropping off, making sure everyone had the equipment they needed and were where they needed to be on time, I started to feel anxious about getting everything done, plus the work I needed to squeeze into the schedule as well.

And then it hit me....it is all just an illusion. I had nothing to feel anxious about. It was a perfect day! It was a day to face with enthusiasm and verve, not one of anxiety and stress. Yes, there were a number of things on my list, but they are all things I WANTED to do, CHOSE to do, LOVE to do.

Then I began to examine the list more carefully.

• 7:00 meeting (brilliant, dynamic friend who is pursuing her dream, I am translating that dream to identity)
• 8:00 meeting (with 3 wonderfully intelligent women discussing life, books and dreams over coffee)
• 9-11 commitment (rocking babies at the local NICU - holding a 4 pound baby, nothing like it)
• 11:30 pick up kids (I like my kids, nothing to be stressed out about here)
• Noon lunch (OK we went to Walmart to do some quick shopping ate at Subway)
• 1-2:15 daughters softball practice (during which I got a walk, checked email and surfed the web)
• 5:45 haircuts (I was just hanging out chatting with my SIL while she cut the girls hair)
• 7:00 other daughters CC training (my husband actually picked up from the salon and took her)

Upon further review, it was a day of a full life, one absolutely blessed by richness. A day rounded in all of what I want my life to embody: work, self development, volunteering, family, fitness, and taking care of myself.

On top of that schedule, I get a call around 2:30 asking if I would be willing to do a radio interview at 4:15pm. I consult the schedule, I don't need to be in-studio, so I can do that from my home office. Another wonderful experience.

Sometimes, at least for me, the schedule is the stressor, not the activities themselves. Having a full life is a wonderful, beautiful thing. In my day there were very few "have tos" and I am grateful for that blessing.

All of the things on my list, I CHOSE. I am in control of what I choose, and put into that day, and even if your day is more packed than that, you too choose what it is you fill your days with. Are they things that are "fulfilling" to you, or just FILLING and already FULL schedule? What are you committing to, are they things that fill you up, or just your schedule?

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
                  ~ Howard Thurman

What are the things that make you come alive? CHOOSE to include those in your schedule and face each day with a positive attitude and the joy that you ARE living the life you were meant to live.